"Reid Stowe, 55, and his girlfriend Sonya Ahmad, 23, departed from New York on April 21 on what they hope to be a 1000 day non-stop, triple circumnavigation."

Hmmmmm... let's see... if Aye were a 55 year old sailor and found a 23 year old sweetie keen on long voyages with me... I suppose I'd attempt to spend a thousand days and nights alone with her, too!

Good on 'em!

They chose the name (top line) because it compares to a trip to Mars, a journey which would involve about the same ammount of time and isolation. They'll be aboard a 70 ft, 60 ton schooner which he built 30 years ago. She carries wood & coal for cooking and electricity comes from solar panels & prop shaft generator.

I wish them fair winds, following seas and a happy voyage!

The longest non-stop record to date is a 657 day triple circumnavigation by an Australian, Jon Saunders in 1986 to 1988.

Hmmmmm... let's see... if Aye were a 55 year old sailor and found a 23 year old sweetie keen on long voyages with me... I suppose I'd attempt to spend a thousand days and nights alone with her, too!

And if you can then get companies to sponsor you and individuals to donate cash then you are really in clover......

I can't immagine why anyone would sponsor this. It can only be compared to a Mars trip in terms of time as the stress factors will be entirely different. Anytime these two feel like strangling each other they can just pull into the nearest port and get their heads sorted. Not so for those in space.

I have just run a check with Lloyds Maritime Intelligence Unit. The Maersk Dunedin is a Liberia registered container vessel which at the time of the "incident" was on her way from Algeceras, Spain to Savannah, Ga. The position given by Reid agrees with Lloyds but Lloyds has no casualty report for the Maersk Dunedin. Strange?

I draw no conclusions from this but would assume that Lloyds MIU should have received a casualty report by now.

I think the way they are living is ideal... I love the idea of getting a BIG boat and converting it into a house and garden... maybe an old bodrum gulet with 4 or 5 double cabins... knock out a couple of walls and have a massive master stateroom, a guest room, a library/navigation room, galley garden, and plenty of storage space for provisions. the problem with the gullets is that they are all wood and would be super high maintenance and extra expensive to maintain...

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“The world turns aside to let any man pass who knows where he is going.” (Epictetus 55 - 135 AD)

"To see new things, and live day to day, is better than wine or poppy, and fitter for a man." (Theseus)

Lots of people cannot embark on some trip/venture/task unless it's deemed "special". Perhaps he's one of those people who wouldn't consider a cruising life unless it included something to awe folks with...you know the type...they're claiming their plans to do a circumnavigation before they've even sailed beyond the harbor entrance once. Or, the type of person who has to break some kind of record to make it "worth while?" There are definitely personal ego issues with these things, IMHO.

I've read a press release on this somewhere else recently and it seemed that this fellow has had a "thing" for long voyages without landfall. Better that he gets off on this fancy than many other things, though. The girl, I figure she's too young to know what she's getting into. Of course, that's why its often the young among us who do very great things--they're too inexperienced to realize that nobody in their right mind would even try to do whatever it is that they set out to do!

I guess if you're going to be "gone" for 3 years without getting into a port, you do need quite a support network. Probably the only way to really get that is via official sponsors. Can you imagine asking YOUR family and friends to handle the shore-side logistics for you? Many of ours would just be rolling their eyes and asking us if the boom hit us in the head one too many times--3 years???? 3 years??? at sea??? The reliable friends/family wouldn't probably be willing to support such a venture (after all, they are the "reliable" and "practical" people we know...On the other hand, the friends/family that we have who would TRY to support us would fail because oh, say, rushing that important engine part to the DHL folks interfered with their meditation on the beach time...once the sun was set, well...the DHL folks were gone...These are the sweet but "unreliable" friends/family who are better known as "dreamers"...but unfortunately, these particular "dreamers" often don't end up being the "doers"...

Hey, and that's the really amazing thing here! This fellow is a dreamer--and he's actually doing! what he's dreamed. That is a wonderful thing.

So why? record breaking, doing something "special" to get an ego trip...and well...hum... "living the dream"...HIS dream that is. By golly, he's doing exactly what we'd all like to do!

Individual differences are what make humans so fascinating to one another. I would make a great hermit...but 1000 days at sea? There is such temptation, such adventure and such fun, in exotic ports, just below every horizon. (For this reason, everyone should own at least one loud Hawaiian shirt).

I wish them well and hope they abandon their journey on the same day as they both decide they should. The only area where I feel a mistake has been made is in seeking sponsorship and making promises. Such things could prevent them from ending their voyage when they should, and keep them sailing long after they become enemies.

David.

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"if at first you don't succeed....Redefine success"!

I disagree that this trip is about ego... granted there may be a small element of that in it, as there is in everything that nearly everyone does. But I think it is probably more about goal setting, accomplishment and experience... Personally I like to set goals and by setting goals I accomplish and expereince things... if I don't set very specific goals I won't do anything... and one thing that my exgirlfriend pointed out was that my goals keep getting bigger/higher/harder... I don't mean for them too but that is the nature of accomplishment... once i've done something the next logical step to me is to do something harder.... which is what this guy is doing...

__________________
“The world turns aside to let any man pass who knows where he is going.” (Epictetus 55 - 135 AD)

"To see new things, and live day to day, is better than wine or poppy, and fitter for a man." (Theseus)

I disagree that this trip is about ego... granted there may be a small element of that in it, as there is in everything that nearly everyone does. But I think it is probably more about goal setting, accomplishment and experience... Personally I like to set goals and by setting goals I accomplish and expereince things... if I don't set very specific goals I won't do anything... and one thing that my exgirlfriend pointed out was that my goals keep getting bigger/higher/harder... I don't mean for them too but that is the nature of accomplishment... once i've done something the next logical step to me is to do something harder.... which is what this guy is doing...

There's always some ego involved when we set out to do hard things.

I well understand the goal thing. Yes, goals to keep getting bigger/higher/harder as we achieve them we push for more. I also set goals because without them, I could waddle in "nothing" for too long. I love seeing it when someone does something unique and difficult that others wouldn't consider.

However, whenever someone goes off and gets sponsors for their very personal goal (I don't see this guy really effectively raising social awareness with this project...therefore its a personal thing) and publicizes with press releases, etc....there's not just a LITTLE ego here...there's a bit of "look at me" and "see what I'm doing" along the lines of the child on the bike saying "look, Ma, no hands." It depends on the child whether its as much fun to ride the bike with Ma not looking...

Reid is the same guy and this is the same boat, that sailed to the south Atlantic several years ago and sailed a course that "drew" the outline of a seaturtle with his course plots. The voyage was written up in , I believe, Cruising World mag.

That voyage was taken with his wife (now ex wife) aboard. She bought the couple a life raft for this trip.

Intersting guy apparently, and from online chats I've had with friends of them both, so is she.

But a long cruise must put a lot of strain on a relationship unless you get on really well.

I'm not sure I would choose a circumnavigation as an early step in a new relationship.

It would either seal it or sink it.

Duckie,

I believe that its possible for ANY two people to successfully and enjoyably complete a very difficult task together--as long as they understand the task to be done, give each other respect, and do a good job communicating and recognizing roles, responsibilities, and personal boundaries.

The problem with people who are in romantic relationships is that they frequently don't treat each other with the same levels of respect as they do other people. They usually overstep boundaries and confuse technical roles/responsibilities needed for the task at hand with their personal relationship roles...they figure its ok--this is their significant other, so it will all work out, right? wrong! Things will fall apart quickly.

If one person has a very strong personality, then the other person is likely to get trampled. There goes the successful venture and there goes the relationship all at once. In my opinion, when you see an older person voluntarily coupled with a younger person in things like business ventures or personal relationships, you should question if you're seeing someone (older) who has a very strong personality who has found it easier to "rule" younger people since the younger person is more likely to defer to the older persons "experience"...

The general consensus elsewhere is these 2 people are fools, and dangerous fools at that. In the girl that foolishness can almost be excused because she has zero proevious experience and, quite obviously, no clue about what she is letting herself in for. In the man such foolishness is les forgiveable. The vessel is of questionable seaworthiness (many people believe that he did not hit a ship at all, merely buckles his under-specced bowsprit with sail-load), it had been something like 3 years since the bottom had been scrubbed before they left (and I don't know that there was any anti-foul on the bottom anyway). The boat has various leaks, but they cant be bothered to move the stores to try to trace the sources.

If (more likely when) they get into difficulty, brave men and women will risk their lives to try to rescue these fools.